I was out last night and someone asked me what I thought about the Apple iPad, saying that they thought of it as a great new mobile computer.

I stated back that I didn’t really think of it as being a “mobile computer” as much as I thought of it creating a new category of “untethered” home computers. No wires, not to the wall, and not to a mouse.

While it can definitely be thrown in the car or in a bag and taken out on the road and have access to 3G wireless connectivity (if you are willing to pay for it), I think that it will play a big part in the living rooms, kitchens, and bedrooms of the future.

The Nintendo Wii is kind of responsible for what has been coined “casual gaming”. I think the iPad will be the device that spawns the term “casual computing”.

I am sure iPhone and iPod Touch owners would agree that they rarely sit down at their computers to check their e-mail anymore, they just pull out their iPhone/iPod wherever they are at the moment. When out and about that will not change as those devices will be what is in their pockets, but in the home the iPad will become the go-to device as it expands the experience of touch-based computing with a larger screen and more power.

While I, and others, have some complaints about iPad’s glaringly obvious missing features, I am still very optimistic about it and it’s product line’s future.